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Plans For Rural Development Upsets Residents

Posted: 7:32 am EST November 6, 2009Updated: 7:39 am EST November 6, 2009

Neighbors are fighting to keep Orange County farmland from being developed into a small town.

A developer wants to put 700 homes, 4,000 multi-family units, 160 hotel rooms and more than one million square feet of planned office space on the Rybolt Ranch near the Little Econ River.

One of the major complaints is traffic. The development would be down Chuluota Road, currently a quiet two-lane road that some fear would become overrun without any improvements required by county leaders.

More than 100 residents from the Chuluota and Bithlo areas showed up at a meeting about a giant development proposed for the Rybolt Ranch near Lake Pickett Road and Chuluota Road. The overwhelming majority oppose the residential and commercial influx.

Residents Eyewitness News spoke with say they are sick of politicians allowing development without roads and other infrastructure to support it. They point to Avalon Park and Waterford Lakes, developments that have created traffic nightmares, and done little more than create a bigger property tax base for government.

"They need to be responsible for the infrastructure that will take care of it and to use good judgment of not just putting so many houses in there. We already have enough houses. We like our rural community," said Jeanne McKnight, resident.

At least one commissioner Eyewitness News spoke with opposes the plan as it currently exists.

The full commission could begin debating the development as early as January 2010.

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